It’s silly to actually believe that people will start using public transportation just because the mayor is using it.
It’s called “leading by example”.
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HUUUUUUUR, so if the mayor jumped off a bridge, you would too? HURRRRR.
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HUUUUUUR, it’s called “bungee jumping,” HUUUUUURRR.
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yes
Is this some kind of weird Asperger’s cult? Just wondering…
yes
Dream on.
Two recent endorsements from people who might not always agree with each other:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtTQO4OsZqU
Not that he needs anymore social media presence, but this was pretty cool.
However, I’m a bit skeptical his AC is only set to 26C for the past couple weeks.
We’ve yet to turn the AC on this year in our apartment. Fans suffice.
We have it at 26 in our bedroom, mainly because anything below 25 sends my wife in hypothermia.
Which leads us to two conclusions:
a) Ko might have a meimei hiding in his office
b) I need a private bedroom during summer
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A reasonable plan after Tsai wins a second term.
KMT will be in such disarray after this debacle.
My 
If Ko thought he could win, he’d run this year. His strategy is clear, and it follows a simple observation below.
Before Ma’s second term, KMT’s main election draw was that they are the party of “the status quo”. If you are anxious about any political change hurting your profit margin, you vote KMT.
However, as China reverted back to being even more authoritarian, not hurting your profit margin became sucking up to China, and changing the status quo. That’s why for the last couple of elections KMT’s candidates have been more red than blue. The problem is that most KMT supporters, sans fundamentalists who make up the majority of primary voters, still want to maintain the status quo.
In the mean time, DPP governments under US pressure and China’s threat of military action couldn’t change the status quo anyway. So the DPP instead became the party of the status quo.
That leaves a whole “status quo” segment of former KMT supporters marginalized. They don’t want to vote for the DPP, but they also know the current KMT is all about changing the status quo.
Ko calls himself a pragmatist, but he is really an opportunist at heart. He sees this trend and knows there’s a huge swath of voters waiting to find a status quo candidate they can support. I believe Ko changed his tune since 2016 because he has been playing to win them over. Before, Ko played the “I’m for independence” card to win over DPP and NPP youth votes. Now, since his pivot, he can careless if they stay with him. Plenty still do anyway. The key for him is to remain fairly ambiguous about independence and China when asked about it, but actively lean slightly towards China to win over KMT supporters.
If Ko deserves more credits than I give him, meaning that he is playing a larger strategic game, and he is doing this to marginalize the KMT, instead of for power and his self interests, I think he is still doing it wrong.
By opening up his party to anyone who wants to join, without outlining a core principle of the party, he has filled his ranks with plenty of China leaning players from the camps of Want Want media, Terry Gou and James Soong, leaving many of them in key positions. If that’s where the money is coming from, he will eventually be marginalized within his own party if he ever wishes to deviate from their goals.
For those who can read Chinese, this is a list of reactions towards DPP passing the budget to purchase new F-16Vs.
Ko called it Taiwan paying the US for protection fees, and that you shouldn’t have to pay for the drill bit to do other’s dirty work.
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Nice analysis.
Eh nope. It is 8 years of Han. Then, maybe, Ko.
Han has the industrial sector, the government employees, the real estate tycoons, the mafia and the disenfranchised on his side - the ones that are looking for someone to blame besides themselves for their failures.
Tsai has a few of the young idealists, cat lovers and some foreigners who do not vote. She does not have full DPP support nor the devoted pro Independence, who find not her radical enough.
And if you think that is bad, wait until we get a pro China Legislature. Now that is going to be unsavory.
I really hope you are wrong.
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Have you been following the polls. Han is completely dead and he’s bringing KMT down with him. Tsai is 100% going to win.
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Han doesn’t have the business class at all. That was Terry Gou. A lot of Taipei blues are embarrassed by Han. He appeals to the fringes, deep blue , and underclass.
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The polls are not very well done, to say the least. Han has the most devoted, powerful and more numerous followers.
I think you guys missed the main industrial bosses pledging alliance to Han, as well as the leaders of overseas business groups.
For the KMT, these are the few remaining years to close accounts and make like a bandit, as either Taiwan goes…or China. Either way, they hope to play it right for them and come on top. See how they have positioned the most extreme legislators for the next Legislature. They are cashing in their bets.